Collecting, Painting and Gaming in the Oldhammer way on this side of the pond.

Saturday, November 26, 2016

Oldhammer In the New World Zine - From the far west comes a lone figure, coming out from the desert with tales of Hobby!

It has been WAY TOO long since any posts have graced this blog. Afraid I have been on forced sabbatical because I have been so busy with Life and Work. that is it. I will try to do better. Some news to come hopefully soon!

However, from the far west, coming out of the sunset comes a man........

The golden sun was just setting, turning the desert sky into sea of red. The undulating sky like the mad waves in a world gone mad. The sand, which the wind has scoured into us all day, settling into the nooks and crannies of our clothes. Four doomed men on our way, lost looking for any sign of the correct path. As the sun set and the land grew cooler, we knew it was time to find shelter or die in this gruesome and lonely desert.

We hove to, piling into a section of rock, scoured by the wind and sand over the years, bleak bones of the earth shooting out from the constantly shifting soil. We made camp and started a fire.

And then one of us noticed him. A tall, lone figure, almost gaunt approached out of the sunset, seemingly not there one moment, and then after a glaring flash of shadow passed out from the sun into our view. He made his steady way to our fire, nerve seeming to rush, nor hesitant. Just a solid character woven from the play of shadow and light in the desert.

He approached and stated "Ho, The fire!" As though we were not all standing watching him come, our hands nervously twitching for holds on our weapons. But I noticed, all of my companions were reluctant to draw too close to the weapons. Afraid to test this one man against us four.

Finally, I was surprised to hear someone state : "Ho, walker. Approach."

I was even more surprised when I noticed it was my throat that had uttered the words.

As he approached, eyeing us hardly at all, we gleaned every detail we could, from his travel clothes to the well-worn hilt protruding from his side.

"So what are you all doing out here? Crossing this land and is seemingly dire straits? This is not the kinds of land to cross if you have foul intentions. And it is a foul time to read where you are not known....." he trailed off. The slide from innocent question to stark declaration, jarring in there presentation.

We flinched. We looked quietly at one another. Then I swallowed and said: "We mean no harm, sir. Nor did we mean to trespass on your land, if it is. We are into bandits from the high country, or anywhere. We are just out looking for the path. The sacred path. To the Game."

He sat still for a moment, the cool desert wind brushing his hair, and his dark eyes, squinted as he measured us.

He smiled. then sat at the fire grabbing a stick, and lightly pushing at the coals. "Well, sit down. I have some news for you. I have a document you need to see. It will guide you to the Game, boys. It'll bring you sights and sounds of battles ages gone by...."

He produced a wrapped package from his saddlebag. He gently un-wrapped it, motioning for us to get him some of our beer. And when he was finally ready, pulled out a small set of papers. An unfamiliar logo on the cover....he chuckled. And said, "Can you boys read?".

Startled...for a moment, then Jebediah muttered " Not all that well...."

"Well, the old man said. Let me start. "Oldhammer in the New World. The fanzine of Oldhammer in the Americas!"

Ah, telling tale around the campfire. Of course, our "fire" is now the internet. But it is sometimes amazing to me how hard it is to sometimes find the places we need to be - often when they are right in front of us.

Most of you know that I started my blog originally to have an event where we could emulate Bring Out Your Lead in Britain. We had a great event, and there have been several more, Weekends where incredible minis have been played across great fields, and like minded people have been able to gather for beers and talk. It could not be better.

Always one problem though. While the UK is tightly packed with gamer, and has had Games Workshop stores in just about every major community. The US (and indeed the Americas since we include our Canadian Brethren) is just HUUGE in comparison.

We established Oldhammer in the New World on face book and it has now grown to over 300 members. But we also constantly find people on the Oldhammer community pages that are in the US or Canada, and yet have no idea we try to hold events, or share pics and ideas on our North American page as well.

The people we have met through these events stay in touch, host other games in basements and stores, and continually spur each other on for more hobby all the time. Of course, these guys I have met also have long running discussions, that have continued to make me laugh and try for more all the time. I mean, long running jokes bind us all together.

One of those gentleman, who lives way out west and has now attended events out East, probably earning the farthest traveled Oldhammer member in the US in the process is Sean T. Squires. You can find his blog here. Like AirborneGrove26, he has given us some incredible battle reports using Comic Life (which even has a 30 day free trial) making our battles come alive as comics.

The humor they put into these things are incredible and they have a great "Oldhammer vibe". And they really highlight some of what we are getting up to over here on this side of the pond.

But Sean wanted to show more. He wanted to try to do a Zine. That is right, one man in a desert, having to travel for any games, has been quietly working on his project and has finally released it into the world. He has placed this on the files page for Oldhammer in the New World's facebook page.

So in order to get this new cool zine - come on over. Once you are accepted you can see what we have been getting up to in the Americas! If you are new to America and have some cool models to show off, get some info to Sean, he is currently looking for more submissions for issue 2 and beyond!

As an aside: Why do we find these things so much fun (besides the great people we have met?) At the first Oldhammer Weekend, I had several "extras" I had brought with me, and I was able to get Andrew Dyer a giant ogre. Later on - I was able to see that ogre (who had been in my collection since 1990's beautifully painted. You can see that here and Andrews blog as well.

Of course, event blogs were all over the place over the last big Oldhammer Weekend but before I could even post this - some already got together for another meeting in a deep dungeon....But here are some blogs to follow for that info:

Shorehammer - where David "Ork" Kolar and gang are hosting some Oldhammer! (not much notice I know as this is Dec 3 and 4th in Ocean City Maryland- but if you are nearby, you should give it a whirl. Once you have been to one of these, you'll never want to miss one!

Oldhammer Weekend Maine 2017 - is being put together by Don Sargent way up int he northern wilds. He has boards and games and even an event model he has put together. (I can't make Maine unfortunately but I hop I get one!) This is scheduled on January 21st 2017 at Greenhouse Games in Gardner Maine. So go there and ignore the inauguration as much as you can!

Keep posting everyone - and we will be seeing each other in 2017 and beyond! I even have a new reason to start posting more often - so more to come sooner than later!

Cool post. Our numbers are growing! It's amazing how the internet has enabled our community to thrive, 30+ years after the advent of Warhammer Fantasy and Rogue Trader. Who would have thought this would be possible?!

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About Me

Hailing from the arctic tundra otherwise known as Michigan, I
started gaming back in the mists of time. I have been a huge fan of
Warhammer and GW ever since. But frustration mounted as the armies
became too similar - the epiphany hit me at Adepticon a few years ago,
when just about every army looked so similar to mine (was playing Dwarfs
and yes, most were painted better than mine) but all using the same few
bits to make our armies. And I started longing for those long ago
armies where every figure was different, and my army would look nothing
like yours, even if we played the same race! I discovered like minded
people online (but mostly across the pond)- my passion was rekindled by
Oldhammer! Now it is my goal to bring the concepts of Oldhammer to the
masses here in the New World. But if you have ever felt that the passion
and art that was on display in those incredible little statues made by
the legends of our genre was the best of times, come with me and
rediscover that little golden glow when you get that lead in your hand!
If you collect old models, like painting the miniatures, or love gaming
with some of the older rules, join us on our journey of Oldhammer In The
New World!